Voices for Innovation

I have received an email from Claire O'Halloran, Emerging Partners Lead, Microsoft UK SMS&P Partner Group drawing my attention to a new initiative called Voices for Innovation (VFI). I have signed up.

The concept behind it is solid. So is the opportunity to network on the Member's Community Forum. Any opportunity to network online with global partners is essential when based in geographically remote regions such as ours. One point: VFI has been inspired by Microsoft and I therefore guess many of its initial members will be Microsoft partners. The key to its success will therefore rely on its ability to remain agnostic from 'The Master'.

But VFI is more than just another social (B2B) networking site. It is designed to provide its members with a means of lobbying global opinion formers about the need to manage and encourage innovation as a key policy objective. Time will tell if this forum can actually help achieve this.

If you want to make a difference and make New Zealand's ICT voice heard, you can sign up here.

Facebook faces

I reckon that Facebook held a pretty good party in Reading last night.

This morning, I received email invites from both Claire O'Halloran and Steve Clayton, both of the Microsoft UK Partner Group to join their Facebook networks.

Being a Microsoft UK Partner, but living in Tauranga, has its moments. During Claire's recent visit, she talked about the need for Microsoft UK and Microsoft NZ to engage more closely. I believe that this can definitely be achieved through the Partner channels. Hence I have bookmarked and read both Claire and Steve's blogs regularly. It is good to know what they are thinking 'up north'.

Prompted by the two invites received this morning, I have sent out some of my own. Let's see what new faces these bring.

Auckland Review

Sometimes I find meetings in Auckland difficult to justify. Not last week.

Meeting Claire O'Halloran from the Microsoft UK Partner Group in Auckland was just great. Any support that Microsoft NZ and ICT businesses in New Zealand can get to 'globalise' their outlook is good news. I am sure Claire's visit will have helped that process for those who met her.

The Small Business Expo on Friday also delivered more than promised. Maybe that's because I unexpectedly bumped into Craig Garner, ex CEO of Tauranga Chamber of Commerce and partner, Helen Cunliffe, now of Business Mentors New Zealand. This organisation, operating with over 1,200 mentors and administered by 14 Regional Agencies provides a free, national mentor network to help any New Zealand company which has been in business for at least 12 months and has less than 25 employees. It does a great job.

And then there was the meeting on Friday afternoon. I suspect I will be visiting Auckland more often than usual over the next few months. But first there is the small matter of Wellington. That's now scheduled for later in the week ahead.

Microsoft UK in Auckland!

This is sort of related to my earlier blog on 'It's Global, not Export'.

Claire O'Halloran of the Microsoft UK Partner group flies into NZ next week. One of Claire's Microsoft UK roles, includes 'Partnering for the Future'. This is of special interest to me. Strategy Analysis, one of our UK-based network affiliates, is a Microsoft UK 'Partner for the Future'.

This week, Claire is in Hanoi as part of a UK Trade & Investment Mission to Vietnam. It is all part of an initiative by UKT&I and other parties, including Microsoft UK, to examine opportunities in Vietnam's rapidly growing ICT sector for UK businesses. That's what I mean by a 'Global' mindset.

I will be meeting Claire next week in Auckland together with some of her Microsoft NZ colleagues. I hope we learn something of Claire's experience this week in Vietnam and others she has picked up in her Microsoft UK role. It will be interesting to learn if Microsoft NZ, maybe in association with NZTE, has any plans to provide NZ partners with the opportunity of visiting and exploring selected offshore markets in a similar fashion.

That's the global approach I believe New Zealand ICT businesses must adopt.

My Favourites

Being based in NZ means that much of the news I listen to on mainstream media relates to local domestic news. i.e. Cat gone missing in Matua (Monday headlines), Cat found in Matua - Neighbours rejoice (Tuesday headlines).

To keep in touch with things overseas, I rely on my Favorites menu. So these are the sites that I use to interface with the rest of the world.

For news, I check out BBC Online, CNN, Times of India (Bangalore) and the Daily Telegraph (London Edition).

For business, I check out FT.com, Reuters and Bloomberg.

For sport, I check out BBC Online, Blackpool FC, Fylde RUFC and Rivals.net.

For Technology, I check out 3 or 4 Blogs. Although I work in the technology space, I prefer not to write about it from a techie perspective. Having first experienced 'New Media' in 1979 when I joined Brunnings Advertising in Liverpool - 'New Media' was then commercial radio, I have experienced so many 'New Media' moments, that I no longer predict their future. I prefer instead to refer to others and let them do the hard work.

I am indebted therefore to those Bloggers who I habitually visit. There is a Microsoft bias, but this perhaps reflects Microsoft's strategy of encouraging their employees to blog in company time. There also appears to be a new generation of Microsoft employee that is more open to non-M/S speak and more aware of the bigger picture. Could be of course, just a good disguise.....

Steve Clayton, CTO of the Microsoft UK Partner Group has a good blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/stevecla01/. Steve does cover some technology issues but also looks at the wider impact of emerging technologies. His blogs usually contain some good links to both Partner and non-Partner sites.

Claire O'Halloran works with the Microsoft UK Partner Group and heads up the 'Partners of the Future' team. Since we are one, it is good to catch up with her thoughts. Like Steve, some great links to Partner sites doing amazing things in the Web 2.0, SaaS area, etc. etc. Check Claire's blog out at http://blogs.msdn.com/armadillo/default.aspx.

Frank Arrigo is responsible for all Microsoft Australia's Technical Communities in Australia, which includes Developer, Architect, IT Professional, Academic and ISV. He is also brother of Rita who I met during a Business Australia meeting in Melbourne back in March 2006. He is also related to John Beer's wife Elvy. John is my partner in Pingar. So for a taste of Aussie M/S thinking, I occasionally drop into http://blogs.msdn.com/frankarr/

In NZ, a name that has cropped up several times in recent months is Rod Drury. So I checked out his blog and then bookmarked it. It's got some techie stuff, but also links to some NZ-based companies and developers. I check it out at www.drury.net.nz.

New Zealand does have some of its own sites, though particularly in the News and Business area, they all appear to publish the same NZPA news feeds at the same time. Two of the better online sources for news are Stuff and NZ Herald. For business, I occasionally check out the New Zealand Stock Exchange and National Business Review.